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Saturday, 13 October 2012

THE READATHON!

Hour 24

Guys! It's the last hour! I've been slightly... non good at reading since I woke up, but I'm good with it. I wasn't quite feeling Shutter Island, I think because I'm still pretty tired and the tension wasn't really getting to me, so I put it aside for a bit and started Let The Right One In, which I am liking quite a lot at the moment.

I believe I am going to my nan's in a little bit, so this will be my last in-readathon update! Who can believe it! When I come back home, I'll try to remember to do a teeny teeny last stats update, but this is basically it! *hugs everyone and refuses to let go*

Oh look, an end of event survey!

1. Which hour was the most daunting for you?

Well, hour 14 was so daunting that I decided to sleep instead, but getting started again after sleep was fairly difficult!

2. Could you list a few high interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged for next year?

I really really really enjoyed, and was enthralled by The Haunting of Hill House. And Burton on Burton is EXCELLENT if you're a Tim Burton fan.

3. Do you have any suggestions of how to improve the readathon next year?

LET ME START AT LIKE 10AM FOR ONCE! GAH!

4. What do you think worked really well in this years readathon?

Well, for me it was updating less, which sort of misses out on one whole aspect of the readathon, but ALSO lets me read books more. I still don't think I've got that balance right.

5. How many books did you read?

3. But I read from 5. Yay.

6. What books did you read?

The Casual Vacancy, The Haunting of Hill House, Burton on Burton.

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

Ooooh, TheHauntingOfHillHouseTheCasualVacancyandBurtononBurton. Really, they were all really good!

8. Which book did you enjoy least?

At this point, I'm going to say Shutter Island, but only because I wasn't really alert enough to read it!

9. N/A

10. How likely are you to take part in the readathon again?

It's the most likely thing that's likely to happen in my life. For reals.

Pages Read: 842

Books Finished: 3

Naps: No. But almost definitely later

Snacks: Nah, just had breakfast, which was nice. And some popcorn lip scrub which was also gooood

Hour I-Don't-Even-Know, But Let's Say 21?

So, I finished Burton on Burton last night and it was really good, and I started reading Shutter Island really briefly but I just couldn't keep my eyes open, so sleep it was! And it was gooood. I'm just trying to muster up the energy to read a bit more/get some breakfast/move, at all.

Fun fact: I totally slept on the sofa because I was that tired that I didn't think I'd make it up the stairs! Good call, I reckon.

Pages Read: 729

Books Finished: 3

Naps: Oh, just about a 7 hour one, which I guess most people would just call 'going to sleep'

Calories: None! And I must have burned off ZILLIONS in that sleep, so... Come on, breakfast!

Hour 13

Halfway through and I'm still awake! Woohoo! I've sort of nearly finished Burton on Burton (helped by the fact that there are quite a lot of drawings and photos in it, which is also cool because they're pretty awesome) and after that, I'm kind of thinking... Should I go to bed, or should I power on through and start Shutter Island, and see how that goes? It's a tricky thing, because I'm laying right now and I feel alright, but I got up earlier and I was like 'WOAH, so tired!' You know, like when you've had a few drinks and you think you're fine, and you get up to go to the loo and you're like WOAH I can't walk properly! Only this involves less booze. More reading.

Oh look, a mid event survey!

1. How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?

My eyes really hurt! Which I didn't notice until I came on ze computer again, but yeah. Ouch!

2. What have you finished reading?

The Casual Vacancy and The Haunting of Hill House. Working on Burton on Burton.

3. What is your favourite read so far?

Honestly, they've all been SO good. No duds in my readathon pile this time!

4. What about your favourite snacks?

Bluergh, food. But those brownies were disturbingly good.

5. Have you found any new blogs during the readathon? If so, give them some love!

Um... I have been very bad and not very exploratory. But I've been reading!!

Pages Read: 651

Books Finished: 2

Naps: Still none! It's very surprising!

Calories: I had about half a bag of mint m&ms, but I just couldn't. May have eaten too many brownies over the course of one day...

Hour 10

Ok, so clearly I'm NOW getting a little update-happy, but I just finished The Haunting of Hill House, it's nearly an actual hour, so... Here I am. Good GOD that book was creepy. And very very complex. I'm going to have to give it a good thinking over before I can review it, I think! *shudders*

I have no idea what's next, so I think I'm going to have a little blog wander before I choose. Also I should probably go to bed at SOME point... Hmmm. Anyway! For now, reading.

Pages Read: 446

Books Finished: 2

Naps: Obviously not.

Calories: Coke zero vanilla= no calories! Yay!

Hour 9

Well! I didn't exactly mean to leave 5 hours between updates, but there was reading and food fetching and food eating and then some grudging watching of Strictly Come Dancing, and now it's sort of now! I'm over halfway through The Haunting Of Hill House now, and maaaan, is it creepy! I didn't really realise how much until I had to come upstairs by myself in the dark, and... Yeah. Creepy as hell. But also pretty funny and there is some Pamela bashing, so I basically heart it.

I've gotta tell you, in spite of my massive break, I am so tired! I kind of feel like I could actually go to bed now, but NO! NO SLEEP! I mean, I am totally going to sleep. But not yet. So I have my vanilla coke and ALSO some mint m&ms to sustain me for a while. It's alllll good.

Pages read: 354

Books Finished: 1

Naps: Still none! Unless you count staring at the telly a nap, which I am pretty inclined to.

Calories: However many are in a meatless chinese feast. Which is quite a lot because, don't they deep fry those spring rolls?

Hour 4
Hour 4 already! Time sure flies when you're reading JK Rowling. So yeah, I just finished The Casual Vacancy and I nearly DIED. I'm not saying any more than that because, you know, I'm sure not EVERYONE has read it yet, but OMG you guys. OMG.

So that's basically all I've done. Apart from eat many many brownies. I'm not sure what I'm going to read next, but I'm leaning towards The Haunting of Hill House or Let The Right One In while it's still, you know, light. I'm such a baby.

Hour 1
It's a mere 7 minutes away from readathon time as I write, and I'm preeeetty excited! Actually, I'm slightly bored/edgy because it starts at 1pm here, which frankly is waaay too long after waking to wait to read! (And, in fact, I haven't been waiting. So there's that.)
For those of you who were worried about my snacks, fear not for I have made brownies! But first, there will be lunch. Of some kind...
And hey, there are questions! YES, this will make this preliminary thing so much easier! (Also, I'm going to be updating on this post all day, as is my way, so please come here and cheer me on!)

1. What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
England, specifically Surrey, specifically near some fields. EVEN more specifically, on my bed!

2. What book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
ARGH! I don't know. But I kind of want to say The Casual Vacancy, even though I've already read half of it... But I'm really looking forward to reading more.

3. Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I'm going to say, the aforementioned brownies. And also this can of Vanilla Coke Zero that I paid waaay too much money for because it's all imported.

4. Tell us a little something about yourself
I'm kind of obsessed with Nora Ephron, Russian dolls and Diet Coke. One day, I really hope that Diet Coke will sponsor my LIFE.

5. If you participated in the last readathon, what will you do differently today? If this is your first readathon, what are you most looking forward to?
Hmm, do differently? I guess, read more readable books, cause I spent a LOT of time last time reading Watership Down, and that was just fairly unpleasant. Also, I want to say I'll stay up later (last time I lasted until hour 13) but I also kind of don't want to... So we'll see!

Yeah, I think I'm totally going to go to bed at like 1am or something, and then just keep on reading in the morn. That's what I did last time, anyway!

Duuude, I totally thought my vanilla coke zero came from the US! I'll have to check the can when I have it. Not that that will be much help for you, since I can't exactly say 'go here for vanilla coke!' but still!

I guess it's a certain KIND of readathon, but let's not call it that, because if one turns up that you can do, you'll be like 'NOOOOOO, no readathons!!' And I shall try my best to keep having the fun :)

I'm in the middle of The Casual Vacancy but put it on hold for the readathon since I'm reading it so slooooooooowly for some reason. I like it, but I just can't take too much of it at once. It seems that most people like the second half better, so maybe it will start moving faster for me.

I DEFINITELY liked the second half better- it kind of feels like the first half was about establishing who everyone was, and then the second half was about them acting as their characters make them... If that makes any sense! But fair enough leaving it if it's not working for you!

Don't sleep! Read! I'm glad there's a UK person in Team Snickers because for once I know exactly what time it is for the reader. And it's much too early to go to bed on a Saturday night - especially when there's a great pile of books in front of you! I didn't even know about Burton on Burton and I now I have to get my hands on a copy. And I'm glad you liked The Casual Vacancy! And that was a challenging book to pick for a readathon, so well done!

My problem is that weepy books (especially can't-see-through-my-tears weepies) make my eyes soooo tired. And achy. And puffy. All of which inevitably conspires to send me to sleep for an hour to recuperate! NOT GOOD.

I have 24 hours worth of reading to catch up on here, so please bear with me. This could be a long one...

1. OMG ANOTHER VANILLA COKE FAN. They took that shit off the shelves waaaaay too soon, it was so yummy! *is jealous*

2. So glad you gave The Casual Vacancy an OMG. This makes me less concerned about the fact that I bought it already and lurve the woman, since everyone else has just done the review version of a really disinterested shrug. THANK YOU FOR RESTORING MY FAITH IN THE ROWLING!

3. I wasn't read-a-thonning, but I decided to read something scary while it was still light too - The Godsend by Bernard Taylor. Kinda like The Omen. SO GLAD I'm not the only one to read freaky books by day though - they give me ackshual proper girlie nightmares if I read them before bed. :(

4. Mint M'n'Ms? Dude, no. That's not natural.

5. I succumbed to the telly last night too and ended up watching, like, EVERY COMEDY SHOW from the last week. But I had a headache so actually it was awesome. I ate a muffin, and then it was even more awesome. :D

6. *discreetly adds 'The Haunting of Hill House' to her wishlist*

7. I am always surprised by how little I need to eat during a 24-hour read-a-thon. In fact, I eat less and less as the day goes by because it just makes me feel crap. A decent-sized pizza, maybe some toast or Spanish tortilla, M'n'Ms (NORMAL ONES) for tired moments, juice and an espresso milkshake for the middle of the night. Sorted. *gets very hungry and wishes she hadn't thought about this so much*

8. I can never be arsed to go to actual bed on read-a-thon days either. I always wake up slumped on a chair or on the sofa, with a classy seam-line down the side of my face, the blankets on the floor, and an unimpressed cat sitting about an inch from my nose. Very disconcerting.

9. POPCORN LIP SCRUB? Is that a thing? Or are you just taunting me, like some kind of eeeeeevil fairytale temptress? DON'T MESS WITH ME WOMAN!

10. When I do my own sad-a-thon solo 24-hour jobbies, I usually start at 8pm. This gets the night part out the way early so your tiredest part comes during daylight and you're less likely to feel it as badly. I nap during the night, a bit, but it really works! :D

11. YOU DID SO AWESOME! Favourite RAT post so far, hands down. *throws confetti everywhere, quietly switches the Devil M'n'Ms with real ones, steals Vanilla Coke, then legs it before she has to clean up* :D

Why is there a second '10' at the end of this comment? Was I just trying to confuse you in your sleep deprived state? Did I have something important to say but couldn't remember how to count any more? *sighs and eats more cold pizza*

Ellie, that extra 10 is so so cruel! I demand to know the reason behind it!

And let's see.

1. I knoooow, it's the best. They have it in American speciality stores though, so if you ever see one, I recommend popping in and stocking up! And ALSO, in this Burger King near me, they have this EPIC machine where you can do allll kinds of coke/fanta/sprite combinations, so I always have vanilla diet coke, it's AMAZING!

2. I really genuinely thought it was really good, AND it made me cry, so yeah. I feel like maaaaybe it's a bit too English MAYBE for some Americans, but that's a massive generalisation anyway, so never mind!

3. I can't read scary things before bed! Not even Stephen (haha) King, and I am SO used to him by now. It's actually a bit pathetic... (except when YOU do it, obviously!)

4. Mint m&ms are soooo good, you don't even KNOW

5. mmm, your evening sounds like fun! I ended up watching a bit of Back to the Future II as well last night, which was, obviously, AWESOME.

6. Yay! It's so gooood! Although I wouldn't read it in a house, obviously.

7. I think I feel sort of peer pressured into like SNACKS, when actually I don't really snack that much in general, so... I did feel very ill for about an hour last night. But I was ok :)

8. I would have read in bed, but I share a room with my sister (GRRRR) and I felt sort of mean having the light on while she was trying to sleep. Plus it meant she could get up early and tidy this morning, so that was good!

9. IT IS REAL! It's in Lush, and it'll only be there until the end of December, so go and get some quickly! It tastes like BUTTER!

10. This makes total sense! I would just like to start at like 8 or 9 am, and then when I inevitably go to sleep at about 2am, I've practically done it all. Sooo basically I need to move to America if I want to do this for the readathon (OR I could just do my own. Which sounds fun!)

11. DAMMIT ELLIE THERE'S CONFETTI ALL OVER MY BLOG (seriously, never stop commenting, or my life will be so empty!)